Tag: blogs

Chances are if you have been on your job for a little while, you have noticed some processes or equipment that takes excessive time, wastes energy, etc.. and delivers less than optimal results. So, just how do you communicate those observations to management in your organization? You certainly do not want to embarrass yourself by having your idea torpedoed, nor let the company continue wasting money on inefficient processes or equipment. The question becomes, how do you present your cost savings plan to the management team? This blog will help you with that very question!

Your idea(s) for cost savings should be presented clearly and concisely with some key information highlighting the cost and the savings. The simplest way to accomplish this is to quantify the savings for a given period of time and the payback schedule. The payback schedule is generally calculated by dividing the cost of the project by the forecast savings. Generally speaking, the shorter the time required for payback, the better the odds of your project being approved.

To start the process generate a (1) page overview that states the problem, cost of your proposal and the forecast savings. A thorough and concise presentation will help sway any naysayers in the group, and you should include detailed information that includes current operating costs and how you arrived at those figures.

In the compressed air industry, EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air products provide some easy installations and quick payback times without sacrificing production or quality – in many cases, we can improve production and quality. Let’s consider the case below, where open tubes were being used to blow off punch presses. We started by capping off (4) of the open tubes and trying one EXAIR 1100 Air Nozzle with a defined air pattern and we clearly needed more force. That is when we attached the second super air nozzle, and voila! We had the amount of force and the air pattern required for this application, all while greatly minimizing air consumption and noise! The image below shows what a sample air savings presentation sheet or test sheet may look like.

Considering the EXAIR1100 Super Air Nozzle are $39 each, you can calculate that the payback time is slightly less than 10 working days per press, since two nozzles were used for each press.

When considering larger and more in-depth projects, naturally more documentation and information will be required. In addition to the requirements for the above example, just be sure to include the following points:

List the action items for your proposal and any purchases that may be necessary.

Outline your proposed savings and document how you arrived at that number.

Discuss anything that may cause delays or not go as planned, and if possible, suggest viable workarounds.

Create a milestone schedule for all the major points in your plan.

Create illustrations.

If you would like to discuss increasing the efficiency of your compressed air usage, quieter compressed air products, and/or any EXAIR product, I would enjoy hearing from you. Give me a call.

The versatility of social media is one of its greatest assets. If you have an interest in something you can most likely discover others with the same interests on one of the social media platforms. From Facebook, Twitter, blog posts, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube to Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram and Reddit – you will be hard pressed to NOT find something you are looking for.

The other day, we lost our dog, and it was a traumatic experience for us. She saw some deer in the backyard; and in her crazed state, she knocked down the pet gate. Molly went after the deer into the woods behind our place. Being that it was raining and approaching the evening hour, I mentioned that when she gets done hunting, she will come back home. We placed her bed and food onto the porch for when she returned.

The next day, Molly was not on the porch. We were disheartened. Being that I am a bit “old” school, we decided to print some flyers with Molly’s picture. After I returned from work, we started in my neighborhood and worked our way out. We drove to all the neighbors to see if they had seen her, and we stapled the flyers to telephone poles and community boards. We were going at it for hours, and it seemed to be getting hopeless. (Now, I would not have written this blog if it had a sad ending.)

As we continued to make our journey, I went up to a house and knocked on their door. A gentleman answered, and I gave him the story of how our dog got out of her pen. As I was still speaking, my significant other rolled down her window and shouted to me that she found Molly. I was a little confused as I headed back to the vehicle. She told me that a picture of Molly was on her Facebook. (Of course Molly was making herself right at home as the picture showed her laying on a couch). We were extremely happy that we had finally found her. Apparently, a lady that found Molly posted her picture, and tagged her friends. Her friends then sent it out to their friends, and before you knew it, we had her picture on Facebook. With a friend request, we were able to receive her location and start our way to pick her up. Believe it or not, Molly was over 2 miles away from our house.

Being curious, I looked at the timeline of the post. I noticed that she posted the picture at 6:44 p.m., and we were looking at Molly at 7:28 p.m. that same day. This was definitely much quicker and easier than hanging flyers and knocking on doors. I was amazed at how fast and simple that this social networking reunited us with Molly.

This got me thinking about social media. Facebook is the largest social network with almost 2 billion users throughout the world. In looking at the nature of Facebook, it is more than reuniting with friends or finding lost dogs. It also unites companies. EXAIR has a Facebook page in which we post videos, photos, and blogs of compressed air solutions. We can show you how to save money by using less compressed air with our products and how to solve every day problems with your compressed air system. We would love to have you as a friend at www.facebook.com/exair. We may not be able to find your dog, but we sure can share some stories, solve compressed air problems, and become good friends.